Stop the landscape bed abuse!

Stop the madness! When landscapers “scratch” the beds to give them a fresh appearance they are doing more harm than good. Besides tearing up important fibrous roots, bed scratching disturbs soil microbes. Plants subjected to this poor cultural practice must waste energy to regenerate roots. They usually look terrible.

I have never seen a healthy landscape that did not have mulch around it.

Applying mulch to plant beds is crucial to tree and shrub health. I am at a point where I dont want to work for you if you don’t have mulch. I can apply products all day and never have results if there is no mulch and I can’t stop the weekly scratching.

Mulch should be from a reliable source and be free of toxins from ground up pallets or treated lumber. A 3 inch layer of cedar bark mulch is what I prefer. Dyed mulches are ok if that is what you are in to. Natural colors seem to make the most sense. Mulch should never be piled against the trunk of any tree or shrub under any circumstances. More landscape trees die from being buried in mulch than from insects or diseases.

This three tyned cultivating tool below should be banned from landscape maintenance contractors.